h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Right ... time for another (overdue) update on things.

Love life: yet again I'm single, although this was after seven and a half months with Adam (a record for me!). While we were (and still are) fond of each other, there wasn't a huge amount we had in common and the passion between us cooled ... so potentially we could have been at each others' throats if we'd stayed together for very much longer. Anyway, we decided to call it quits and remain friends ... which is better than how some relationships have ended in the past. So now I'm single and looking - not too hard, though, for reasons which will become clear.

I said in a previous journal entry that I had until the end of March this year to finish my research ... which was true, but I didn't realise until recently that I actually had more time to finish writing-up the thesis. So while all of my research calculations have now been completed (after little problems here and there meaning I had to redo them a couple of times), I've still got a few chapters left to write. However, it shouldn't take me very long before I'm ready to submit the thesis and get through the viva to become a doctor at long last. I'm also working on a journal paper about the work and getting ready for a conference in Amsterdam in the middle of June ... so things are getting both busy and exciting.

Since I've moved back to my mum's place, I've taken on more music work to earn extra bits of money ... mostly around Oldham or Rochdale, so it means quite a drive each way to do it. However, I'm still playing for pleasure in various orchestras - including one in Middlewich which my sister has started playing at (as she's taken up playing her violin again), which is a lot nearer to home. Meanwhile, a highlight in Oldham was a fairy-tale concert - which included Ravel's Mother Goose Suite (and a very high solo for me) and Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty ballet suite. I'm also string quartetting now, though apart from a fund-raiser for Oldham Symphony Orchestra we don't really have any gigs lined up.

Esperanto-wise: I've done more cataloguing in the Butler Library and I'm getting close to finishing my task (at long last!). While my article did get published in La Brita Esperantisto, I didn't get an avalanche of complaints - and it seems our "spycatcher" hasn't caught on that I don't agree with him, as he's named me as a "good Esperantist" (i.e. one who asks awkward questions). But I've started to care less, particularly as pretty much everyone who counts knows I don't agree with him - plus I'm planning to make a placard with "Mi estas malbona Esperantisto" on it for photo ops.

Anyway, less is more, so I'll end it there.